HEADLINE: Since the bloody merger: It's been a year since
almost 200 ''Seagram's refugees'' were dropped or fled from their labels
in a traumatic recording industry shake-up that has yet to settle out.

BYLINE: Geoff Boucher

BODY:
The calendar is packed these days for Aimee Mann,
what with the holidays and a slate of new projects, so perhaps it's no surprise
that the singer-songwriter was oblivious to the looming, grim anniversary.
But that doesn't mean she's forgotten the pain.

''One year, huh? Well, get your party hats out,'' was the singer's wry response
when told that Friday marks one year since Seagram Co. completed its $10.4
billion acquisition of PolyGram.

That seismic moment in the music industry created the world's
largest record company, one that has accounted for 27 per cent of the U.S.
market this year. But it also set into motion a corporate bloodletting that
would result in Mann and nearly 200 other acts leaving the labels, many
involuntarily.

''A year ago we had no power, and we couldn't make any decisions or know
what was going to happen,'' said Mann, who had been with Seagram's Geffen
Records. ''It was an absolutely horrible and dispiriting time.''

The pain has receded and may now give way to a career resurgence. Mann's
songs are not only the foundation of the soundtrack to Magnolia (released
this week on Reprise Records), but writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson
calls them the ''heart and soul'' of the entire film. Mann says she has
rarely been happier as an artist.

But how many other ''Seagram's refugees'' can say the same? The corporate
shake-up may have begun a full year ago -- and reached its most dramatic
moment in January with the shuttering of the historic A&M Records offices
-- but its repercussions continue, with some artists still awaiting word
of their future with the music giant. Some say it will be years before anyone
can size up the true impact.

Some conclusions, however, can be made at the anniversary of the deal that
brought labels such as A&M, Motown, Mercury, Def Jam and Island under
the banner of Seagram's Universal Music Group:

-- The predicted windfall of proven talent for independent labels and Internet
music ventures never materialized. The artists who were cut loose (or bolted)
from the Universal labels have done so in dribs and drabs, so no flood emerged.
''And frankly,'' notes Cheryl Botchick of CMJ New Music Report, ''some of
these bands probably should never have been on a major label anyway.''

-- The emotional pain lingers, but none of the artists, managers or executives
interviewed for this story disagreed with the overall logic of whittling
down the bloated, underachieving rosters. ''You know, if I was them, I would
have done the same thing,'' says the manager of a former Geffen act who
asked not to be named.

-- Universal Music Group has emerged relatively unscathed and has seen its
market share grow in 1999. The conglomerate weathered criticism from outspoken
artists and flouted tradition by bruising the legacy of the A&M and
Geffen success stories. ''The real corporate crime wasn't cutting these
artists, it was signing them in the first place,'' says one executive still
within the conglomerate.

Pinning down the toll of cutbacks is difficult. Instead of dropping artists
en masse, the labels are often waiting for acts to reach an option threshold
in their contract. And executives within the company, stung by media coverage
of the crisis, declined to disclose their current rosters for this story.
On the other side, managers are often loath to announce their clients are
out on the street.

Some of them -- such as the Maniacs and Kurupt -- have landed with other
labels, while Southern Culture and the Gas Giants (which features former
members of the platinum-selling act the Gin Blossoms) are among those who
went to Internet-based music merchants and labels, a realm that offers more
in future potential than certain payoff.

''Now we have more control and more freedom,'' says Robin Wilson of the
Gas Giants. ''My first and biggest fear was that we wouldn't be able to
get the same level of promotion ... but now I'm very confident that we can
score a Top 40 single. We will just have to work a bit harder for the opportunities.
''

Elastica, Morrissey, Aaron Neville and Nashville Pussy are among those currently
unsigned, and dozens more remain under contract to one of the Universal
Music Group labels but expect to be be jettisoned down the line.

Perhaps no one has picked up the pieces as well as Mann, who, ironically,
has been the most outspoken victim of the Universal downsizing. Described
in Entertainment Weekly as the ''poster child'' of the crisis, Mann may
be on the verge of a renaissance with the Magnolia soundtrack and other
opportunities percolating.

Mann has a completed album she bought back from Interscope Records (to which
Geffen acts were shuttled after the merger) and hopes to release it early
next year. Her bitterness about the major label system has led to another
venture: United Musicians, which she calls ''a collective where artists
can make the most money possible'' off their music.

Hausman, Mann's manager, is now lining up investors for the company, which
would handle marketing, publicity and radio promotion for acts that want
to retain ownership of their songs and buck the traditional industry routes.

Some acts that have experienced platinum sales, though, find it hard to
leave the majors. The Cowboy Junkies, a critically admired veteran band
with a loyal fan following, put out a collection of rarities on their own
label, Latent Recordings, but last month rejoined the major label scene
by signing with Arista Austin.

GRAPHIC: CP Color Photo: COWBOY JUNKIES: Margo Timmins
and her band went the indie route for a year but recently signed with label
Arista Austin.